Breathing should be the most natural strait forward practice but how you breath must be effortless to produce relaxing benefits. So what was I doing wrong? Taking a deep breath makes my body feel tense, breathing slowly makes me tense and focusing on abdominal breathing makes me tense which is not relaxing. This is what I figured out…

Before I take a deep breath I need to breath out. Many people hold onto too much air and first they have to let go. Others may be taking very little air in so a deep breath may mean taking in two or three times as much air to feel your body filling up. You need to figure out which person you are and feel what it is like to breath all the way in and all the way out. To do this imagine at the end of a breath blowing or inhaling through a straw. The small opening of your lips allows you to create extra air pressure (not muscle pressure by the way) to extend your breath. A full breath is a good stretch as your body expands and contracts, you release all of your old air, and take in a large amount of fresh oxygen. If all is well you are more relaxed. I will post more about other un-relaxing breathing experiences.